Can’t say I’ve seen anyone in this thread so far “bashing” on crossbow hunters as a group, or merely because of the hunting weapon they’ve chosen. The discussion to this point really hasn’t been about that, nor is it about “driving a wedge” between different hunter groups. Instead, it is what should be allowable at different times of the year, and what user groups are compatible when hunting at the same time.
I fully understand that today’s compound bows may be faster and even have a longer effective range. And in many ways, both have really become high-tec machines more than they are actually still “bows” (not a slight against people that use either one by any means, but an objective description of the mechanism, imo). But the fact that one can walk around with a crossbow fully loaded and just a trigger pull away from shooting, without having to draw on game at close range, is not a minor detail, in my opinion. It is a significant difference.
